No-Bake Strawberry Cheesecake! Made with fresh berries, cashew butter, dates, and an easy almond crust. Creamy, dreamy, and actually pretty healthy…for cake.
THIS POST IS SPONSORED BY FRESH FROM FLORIDA AS PART OF AN INFLUENCER ACTIVATION FOR INFLUENCE CENTRAL. ALL OPINIONS EXPRESSED ARE MY OWN.
Driving home at 6pm without having to turn my lights on. Pink hibiscus blooming by the sidewalk outside my apartment. Fresh strawberries greeting me in the produce section – red and ripe and recipe-ready. That’s how I know spring is coming.
Happy would be an understatement, I am THRILLED.
It would be a lie to say I’m suffering through frigid winter weather over here. It’s hot as can be and has been for a few weeks now. But wacky Florida weather or not, we can all be happy dancing about sweet, in-season strawberries. And if you’re not happy dancing yet over the berries by themselves, perhaps the CHEESE and CAKE parts will inspire some moves.
I know you know the pros of eating with the seasons – good for you, good for the earth, good for supporting local farmers, just GOOD. It keeps my diet varied, and inspires me to use produce in my recipes I may otherwise overlook. Hey, if you want to make pumpkin pie in July and key lime in January, I’m not judging. But it really is tastiest to eat with the seasons, which is why I try to do it (except frozen fruit, that doesn’t count).
So for all those reasons and because I adore creamydreamy cheesecake, I partnered with Fresh from Florida to bring you this vegan and paleo No-Bake Strawberry Cheesecake. Made with beautiful Florida-grown berries, because that’s what they’re all about – fresh locally grown produce year round.
Strawberry season does strike a little bit earlier here than where you might be, so either bookmark this one and save it for a few months from now or you can always use frozen berries instead.
Ever since sharing these mini cheesecakes many of you have been asking for a non-mini cheesecake. So I’m guessing either a) you do not own a muffin pan b) one muffin-full of cheesecake isn’t enough or c) you don’t share my love of mini foods. Possibly d) all of the above. There is no wrong answer, but there is only one right way to fix it and that is with more cheesecake. What else?
This version is not mini. Not complicated. Not sweetened with anything except fruit. Not NOT completely magical in terms of taste and texture and can’t-stop-won’t-stop-at-one-piece yumminess.
The crust. Almonds and dates and sea salt, that’s it. I am not a fan of the date/nut crust for baked things, but for no bake it’s perfect. You can swap in any kind of nut or seed. Or even shredded coconut or oats.
The filling. This pink dreaminess is a product of…
- strawberries
- medjool dates
- cashew butter
- lemon juice
- vanilla
- almond milk
You could also add freeze dried strawberries for an extra bang of berry flavor and color. Optional, just throwing it out there.
The topping. Okay this is very optional too. The cake doesn’t need a topping. All it needs is you and your fork, so don’t let details like toppings and plates and sharing hold you back. But if you wanted to throw some frozen strawberries in a blender and pulse them to berry pebbles and scatter them on top before freezing your cake, you could.
The first cold but so creamy, berry-packed triangle of a bite…ohmygoodness ♡
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No-Bake Strawberry Cheesecake! Made with fresh berries, cashew butter, dates, and an easy almond crust. Creamy, dreamy, and actually pretty healthy…for cake.
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 cup (140g) almonds (*)
- 6–8 (125g) pitted medjool dates
- Pinch of salt
Strawberry Filling
- 1 1/2 cup (180g) sliced strawberries
- 6 (100g) pitted medjool dates
- 3/4 cup (190g) raw cashew butter (**)
- 1/3 cup non-dairy milk
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Optional: 1 cup (210g) frozen strawberries ((for topping))
Instructions
- In a blender or food processor, combine the crust ingredients.
- Blend on low speed until it starts to clump together. You may have to add 1-2 tablespoons water depending on how moist your dates are.
- Line a 6-inch spring form pan with parchment paper on the bottom. Press the crust into the pan.
- Chill.
- Combine the filling ingredients in a blender and blend on high until smooth and creamy.
- Pour on top of the crust.
- Pulse the frozen strawberries in the blender until broken up into pebble-sized chunks. Scatter on top of the cake.
- Freeze overnight or for at least 8 hours.
- Thaw for 5 minutes or so before slicing and eating. Keep in the freezer for up to a week.
Notes
*Can substitute other kinds of nuts, seeds, or oats.
**Can substitute with other kinds of nut butter, but raw cashew butter has the most neutral flavor and tastes best.
Keywords: cake, no bake, summer, vegan, dairy-free
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Woah! I don’t even care for strawberries, but I want THIS. It makes me yearn for Spring which is still sooo far away in Chicago. Totally making this for Easter or whenever I can find decent fresh berries. Sidenote: my 6 inch springform is probably the best thing I have ever bought #notkidding
The 6 inch springform is highly underrated, right? It’s the perfect size for a cake, makes 9 inch just seem excessive…and too flat ha. Aww well sending you springy vibes up there! And you could totally do it with bluebs too (now I want to do that🙊)
Que veut dire : dans la recette …1/3 de tasse de…( non- dairy milk)
Anglais:
Watch do you meen by …( non- dairy milk…
P/S… is’t Possible to have traduction for yours recipes …
Thank you for this nice recipe…..
MERCIE POUR CETTE BELLE RECETTE… ( No bake STRABERRY CHEESE CAKE)😃
Micheline Bourget…😊
Bonjour Micheline,
Une USA Tasse = 240 ml.
1/3 tasse= 80 ml.
Beaucoup d’Américains n’utilisent pas de balances en cuisine mais des “cups et spoons ” (tasses et cuillères ).
Meilleures salutations
Do you think I could bake this cake and store it in the fridge?
I don’t think that will work unfortunately. It’s really designed to be a no-bake recipe, it won’t cook/firm up properly like a baked cheesecake. Sorry!
Hey there,
Looking to make Mint Strawberry Cheesecakes for one of my clients, would this hold well being stored in the fridge only for a number of days; without any coconut oil being in the filling?
Thanks for your reply!
This one really has to be frozen since there is no coconut oil in it. You could try adding coconut oil, but without testing it I can’t say how much you would need. Sorry!
All good, thanks for letting me know!
What size springform pan did you use? Love this recipe. Can’t wait to try it!
★★★★★
6 inch! (although I think already gotcha on email😊)
Cashew butter instead of using raw cashews in a cheesecake…This is pure genius!
Laziness…genius…same difference 😉
Can you give an option on how to make it with soaked cashews? Would it require 1.5 cups of cashews soaked overnight?
I haven’t tested it, but yes that is exactly what I would recommend!
Soaked means they are still wet, right? Or soaked and then roasted would be best?
Soaked and then just drained and rinsed, NOT roasted!
This definitely looks delicious and indulging with all the nuts and fruits. Love that it is no-bake, quick and easy to prepare. The texture must be great as well!
★★★★★
It’s sooooooo creamy and luscious! By no means a “light” dessert, but it is full of pretty much only real foods which I love 🙂
This looks fabulous! I cannot wait to make it. Can I double the recipe and make it in a larger springform pan? Also, any thoughts on a good substitute for someone allergic to nuts? Trying to make this for a friend and I don’t know much about nuts and nut butters. Thanks!
Yep, you can absolutely double it for a larger cake! For the crust I would recommend some kind of seeds, pumpkin seeds would be my top choice. Or you can use oats. For the filling, I would try coconut cream (the solid part from a refrigerated can of full fat coconut milk) in place of the cashew butter. It has a little more water in it and isn’t as creamy, so maybe take out the 1/3 cup almond milk and use all coconut cream (about 1 1/4 cup totally, I rounded up). Hope that helps!
Natalie thanks so much!! I’m going to try your suggestions!!
Did you try this? If you did how did it come out- I was really curious about subs for a nut butter too- thanks!
This cake is absolutely beautiful, Natalie! I can’t tell which photo I like the best – the close up side angle or the overhead. They’re both so pretty! And then there’s the cashew butter in the filling. I can only imagine how creamy and dreamy that is!
Colorful subject matters make for the most fun photoshoots, don’t you think 🙂 Thanks lovely!
I’m in love with these shots lady!! So so pretty! I love the slice shot the best I think. Makes me want to bite my screen, haha. I am not a big fruit person but I do love strawberry cheesecake. It’s been awhile though since I’ve had one. And can we please talk about how healthy this is, I mean, seriously, this classifies as health food, not one unhealthy ingredient! That is awesome. I love the pink too, with the red, just so much better when the food is just as pretty as it is delicious. I hear ya too, it’s finally getting warm over here, on some days. Texas, particularly Houston, has the weirdest damn weather. One day it’s freezing, the next it is 80. It was 82 today but just a couple of days ago it was cold. Crazy and I’m so ready for purely warm weather now. Oh and I’m making your chocolate mint larabars tomorrow! Making them for Olivia’s lunches, she loves them!
Aw thank you–the fruity colorful ones are so fun to photograph! Except yellow, I find yellow really tricky, although you managed to pull it off with your mango cake so perhaps its just me and my white background that are the problem😆 I wasn’t even going for practically raw vegan, but someone on YT pointed that out and I was like oh yeah I guess it is ha. This weather has been wacky and like bipolar this winter, but I am ready for all the heat (aka all the ICE CREAM WEATHER) all the time too. Hehe yay! That makes me so so happy to know that she is still enjoying those🤗 Happy thursday!
Yum! Making this tomorrow! Would roasted almonds work for the base with the dates.? And do you know if roasted cashew butter or raw cashew butter work better for the filling.? Thanks
Hi Katie! Roasted almonds would be find for the crust, delicious actually. And raw cashew butter is best for the filling, it’s slightly sweeter and less nutty so it won’t compete with the strawberry flavor. Hope you enjoy 🙂
I wanna try to make this for my partner’s birthday, I only got a small fridge with a tiny freezer compartment, do you think it will solidify in the fridge instead?
Unfortunately it will still be too soft in the fridge, what about this baked creamy cake recipe instead: https://www.feastingonfruit.com/chocolate-mousse-cake/
Hi Natalie! First of all I just want to say how. incredibly. dreamy. this. looks. I just want to dive in headfirst, haha! But honestly the best part for me is that this cheesecake is oil free (I have seen so many vegan cheesecake recipes that use like half a cup of coconut oil…), and also completely fruit sweetened! So basically health food 🙂
I was wondering, though, if I wanted the recipe to be sweeter, could I just increase the dates? Would I have to increase / decrease the milk?
Woohoo! I am so so happy you like the recipe and I feel ya on the abundance of coconut oil happening in most no bake treats out there. Yes you can defintley add more dates to make it sweeter! Just adding 2-3 extra and you probably won’t need to change the milk amount, but more than that I would probably add an extra 1/4 cup milk or so just to get it to blend easily and smooth. Or you could add 3-4 tbsp maple syrup to the filling to make it sweeter too, up to you 🙂
Hi! Did u use 6 in pan here? Can’t wait to do this 🙂
Thanks!
★★★★★
Hi Larissa! Yep 6 inch spring form 🙂 Hope you love it!
This looks amazing! Wouldnfrozen strawberries or other berries be okay for the filling too? Wrong season in New Zealand 🇳🇿 but I still want to make it now and have everything else!
Yep absolutely! If you use frozen defrost them first otherwise it will be too thick to blend smooth though 🙂
Can I substitute cashew butter with the peanut butter? Where I am,I can’t find it easily…
Thanks!
You can but it will change the flavor since peanut butter isn’t as neutral flavors as cashew. But with the strawberries I think it will be really yummy, almost like PB&J🤗
Thank you! I’ll let you know:-)
Hello ! Just wanted to let you know that I just tried this recipe today and it was a huge success !! I just added a bit more strawberries in the “cheesecake” part and a few pistachios in the crust. It was so good thank you for this amazing recipe ! I’m definitely gonna try some of your other recipes ;))
★★★★★
Woohoo!!! Huge success is exactly what I like to hear, I am so happy you liked it. I love the pistachio addition, those pair beautifully with the berries I bet. Thank you for the feedback and I can’t wait to hear what you try next, Lou🤗
I made this recipe with my nieces who are 6 and 8. It was a lot of fun. I was wondering what could I add to make it a little more sweeter?
★★★★★
Aw yay, that sounds a little messy but so much fun🤗 You could easily add more dates (bump it up to 10 or so) or 1/4-1/3 cup maple syrup to make it sweeter!
I just ate my first bite of this and it was divine!! I didn’t have cashew butter so I used 1 1/2 cups of raw cashews. Lovely texture, perfectly sweet- I’m making this again for my birthday!
★★★★★
I am SO happy you liked it! Yep whole cashews work too as long as you blend really well. Much easier than a baked b-day cake if you ask me too, so enjoy😊 Thanks for the feedback, Kristen!
Thank you for this recipe!! Can you do more recipes with no oil and no coconut? Also if there are other ingredients you can use to help set no bake recipes in the refrigerator or freezer? Thanks Nat!!!!! Your videos are amazing!
★★★★★
All my recipes are oil free except for maybe 3, and if you go back to the older ones they are much more low fat with less coconut too so definitely explore the archives a bit 🙂 But yes I will keep that in mind. As for setting no bake treats in the fridge/freezer, that really requires some sort of fat. So either coconut oil or nut butter usually. Thanks for the feedback Jennifer!
Big fail for me. I used more than enough of the qty. of ripe strawberries called for but the filling is brown (I’m assuming from the cashew butter and dates) and the only flavour is from the cashew butter.
Hmm the flavor and color can definitely vary depending on how ripe/sweet your berries are, and did you use toasted cashew butter by chance? You really need raw cashew butter here, otherwise the flavor will be overpowering and the color much darker. Sorry it didn’t work out for you!
Ah, I just checked and the cashews are dry-roasted. Good to know, Thanks.
Gourmet!! Exceptional!! We all loved it. Thank you so much.
Woohoo!! I am so so happy it was a success in your house, thanks for the feedback Debbie 🙂
If I double the recipe, what size pan do you think I should use?
I’d recommend a standard 9″ springform pan if you double it. You may have a little bit extra crust though, so maybe just 1.5 times that part. Hope you enjoy!
Thanks! Also, is there any way to substitute roasted cashew butter for the raw cashew butter?
You can, but the roasted cashew butter will have a much stronger nut taste and darker color that will overpower the berries in color and flavor so I don’t recommend it.
Just put this in the freezer for my sister’s birthday tomorrow. Pictures will be on IG tomorrow. Thanks for the recipe! <3
This is a great recipe and came out perfect on the first try. I made it for my birthday and everyone loved it. I will definitely make it again.
Thanks
★★★★★
I am so happy it was a success!! One of my summer faves too, and you can even try it with blueberries or another berry if you want 🙂 Thanks for the feedback Gee!
I have tried this one too. It is very creamy and light. Perfect for the summer :). I really recommend this recipe for those who did not tried yet 🙂 🤗
★★★★★
I am so happy you enjoyed it🍓🍓 Thanks for the feedback!
What a delicious way to enjoy strawberry! This dish looks creamy and delicious. Pure comfort food for sure!
★★★★★
Yes! Or it’s really good with blueberries on top too😋
Hello Natalie,
Me and my family LOVE this recipe. My oldest son and I are gluten and dairy intolerance and this is such a great replacement for a great pie. Thank you for sharing!
YAY!! I am so happy to hear it is a favorite with your family Fleur, appreciate the feedback!